1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a padlock, and more particularly to an error-proofing combination padlock that prevents an error when resetting an unlocking combination.
2. Description of Related Art
A combination padlock can be opened without any keys and has an unlocking combination that can be reset at will to prevent the combination from being obtained after trial and error by any unauthorized person.
A conventional combination padlock has a casing, a shackle and multiple dials. The shackle is mounted retractably and pivotally on the casing. The dials are mounted rotatably through the casing. According to different positions of the shackle relative to the casing, a user can implement the locking in a first position, unlocking in a second position and the reset of the unlocking combination in a third position.
However, the conventional combination padlock has disadvantages described as follow:
1. No matter which one of these three positions the shackle relative to the casing is in, the dials are always rotatable. If any one of the dials is accidentally rotated while the shackle is in the unlocking position, the shackle will be located at this second position and can't move to the first or second position until the rotating back of that dial. Therefore, the operation of the padlock is troublesome and often causes some mistakes.
2. To reset the unlocking combination, the shackle must be pivoted to the resetting position and depressed slightly into the casing to compress a spring inside the casing. A new unlocking combination is acquired by rotating the dials and then releasing the depressed shackle. However, a user often inadvertently releases the depressed shackle halfway during the resetting operation and unconsciously continues the rotation of some of the dials to leave some of dials rotated to unpredicted combination numbers and the others remaining at the desired combination numbers. After the flawed resetting operation, the user cannot open the locked padlock anymore.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides an error-proofing combination padlock to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.